$8M project under way in Lexington

Friday

Jun 14, 2013 at 8:36 AMJun 15, 2013 at 11:52 AM

Luke Smucker

LEXINGTON — Fourteen acres of land north of P.J. Keller Highway in Lexington has been filled with construction vehicles and temporary workers transforming a former cornfield for the incoming $8 million Wirtz Beverage Illinois warehouse and distribution center. Construction traffic stopped for awhile Wednesday as men and women in suits and sunglasses, including Lexington Mayor John Mohr, State Sen. Jason Barickman, State Rep. Dan Brady and Wirtz Beverage Group President William Rockwell "Rocky" Wirtz held the unveiling of the company’s Heartland Headquarters.“This warehouse will be the single largest investment this community has seen in a long time,” Mohr said of the new project. “Potential for new jobs in town and new construction gives everyone some hope and optimism that this community will continue to be successful.”Mohr will be the first to say growth, expansion and development in the community up to this point was severely limited due to the community’s infrastructure. Up until 2012, the town of Lexington was without a wastewater treatment plant, which drove away potential businesses due to costs involved in private waste management. However since the sewer construction was completed, the mayor said the floodgates have opened for services people have been leaving town for. “I think it really took the completion of the sewer for any of these things to happen,” said Mohr. “The cost of a private wastewater treatment system, septic tank or sand filters are just too expensive for a business trying to come to Lexington.”The hope of Mohr and other Lexington officials, is that the new construction will in-turn mean profit for local businesses. Even prior to the actual Wirtz employees beginning work, Mohr hopes the construction workers working on the building and road upgrades will frequent local businesses. “Even if only five or 10 of them choose to live in Lexington, that is still a win for us. Hopefully they will bring some children who will go to school here,” the mayor said.During the opening ceremony, Executive Vice President of Wirtz Beverage Group Julian Burzynski said the new warehouse and distribution center will employ 100 people in sales and operations and will serve 3,000 commercial customers. However, it was also noted Wirtz is closings its warehouse in Peoria and will offer positions to current employees through relocation. “It’s going to be exciting for Wirtz Beverage because we can consolidate everything and have a sales room and a warehouse here,” said Rocky Wirtz. “We can serve the central and southern part of the state through this hub. We certainly think this new facility will allow us to grow.”Wirtz explained the reason they chose Lexington for their new location involved a combination of the company’s relationship with town officials and Lexington’s location within McLean County.“We were excited to be able to stay in McLean County; that was a key thing,” said Wirtz. “Lexington is right off I-55 and that’s a key thing too; geographically it’s very good. We can send a truck down from our warehouse in Cicero everyday. It allows us to get everything down here…the nice thing is we can grow.”The town is currently working with the McLean County Highway Department and the Wirtz Realty Group to make modifications to P.J. Keller Highway in order to handle increased traffic. The mayor says they anticipate at least 100 cars per day or more coming and going through the intersection of P.J. Keller Highway and Interstate 55. With that in mind, the whole area will be busy, construction-wise, through the remainder of the year. “The improvements planned for the P.J. Keller Highway will take place sometime around August and by the end of the year, we’ll be able to accommodate more traffic,” said Mohr. The mayor concluded that a driving motivator for all of their councils is to expand and bring more people to town. The mayor says he speaks for councils across the town when he says the people of Lexington want to thrive and continue to provide a great place to live and educate children. “For sure, the city has been a stagnant in terms of what could be done commercially and residentially in the last few years, but to have a first-class brand like Wirtz come into the community speaks volumes to others who may be thinking of future investments,” said Mohr. “We are optimistic and other developers are seeing our potential. We are currently working with people right now to design and build and pre-develop a small subdivision and some other things on Main Street, which will create some more commercial residential space. So, it’s brought some enthusiasm.”